Shimla, Aug. 19 -- The Himachal Pradesh High Court has taken suo motu cognizance of the construction of roads in ecologically fragile and high-altitude areas of the state, particularly those being opened up under permissions granted under the Forest Conservation Act.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice G S Sandhawalia and Justice Bipin C Negi observed that motorable roads were increasingly being constructed to facilitate tourist access to areas having no local population, citing Chandertal Lake, Shikari Devi Mandir and Churdhar Temple as examples.
The court expressed concern that such roads, constructed primarily to cater to high tourist footfall, could make ecologically sensitive areas more vulnerable to environmental degradation a...